Wikipedia

Raymond Kopa

Polish and French footballer (1931–2017)

Raymond Kopa (Raymond Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a professional French football player. He has played for France national team and for Real Madrid.

Raymond Kopa
Kopa in 1963
Personal information
Full name Raymond Kopaszewski[1]
Date of birth (1931-10-13)13 October 1931[1]
Place of birth Nœux-les-Mines, France[1]
Date of death 3 March 2017(2017-03-03) (aged 85)
Place of death Angers, France
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1941–1949 Nœux-les-Mines
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1949–1951 Angers 60 (15)
1951–1956 Reims 158 (48)
1956–1959 Real Madrid 79 (24)
1959–1967 Reims 244 (36)
Total 541 (123)
National team
1952–1962 France 45 (18)
Honours
Representing  France
FIFA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1958
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

In 1970 he became the first football player to receive the Légion d'honneur, and in 2004, Pelé named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony.

Early life

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Kopa was born to a family of Polish immigrants in Nœux-les-Mines, France.[2]

Career

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After finishing second in the French national youth football trials in 1949, Kopa began his professional career at the age of 17 with SCO Angers in Ligue 2 and was transferred two years later to Reims, with whom he won French championships in 1953 and 1955.

He won the 1953 Latin Cup with Stade de Reims, where they defeated AC Milan 3–0 in the final, and helped them reach the 1956 European Cup Final, which the team lost to Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid, 4–3.

Kopa was also the first French player to win the European Cup when Madrid defeated Fiorentina 2–0 in the 1957 final. He would go on to be European champion again in 1958 and 1959, the last against former side Stade de Reims, where Just Fontaine played.

In the 1959–60 season, Kopa returned to France to finish his career with Reims, where he won further Championnats in 1960 and 1962. In total, he scored 75 goals in 346 matches in France's top flight, and was given the Ballon d'or by France Football in 1958.[3]

With the France national football team, Kopa scored 18 goals in 45 games between 1952 and 1962. He played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.

Death

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Kopa died in Angers, France on 3 March 2017, aged 85.[4]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[5]
Club Season League National cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Angers 1949–50 Division 2
1950–51
Total
Reims 1951–52 Division 1 33 8
1952–53 33 13
1953–54 31 11
1954–55 31 11
1955–56 30 5
Total 158 48
Real Madrid 1956–57 La Liga 22 6 0 0 8 2 30 8
1957–58 27 8 0 0 7 3 34 11
1958–59 30 10 0 0 7 1 37 11
Total 79 24 0 0 22 6 101 30
Reims 1959–60 Division 1 36 14
1960–61 30 5
1961–62 30 2
1962–63 34 1
1963–64 25 5
1964–65 Division 2 29 3
1965–66 27 3
1966–67 Division 1 33 3
Total 244 36
Career total 541 123

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[source?]
National team Year Apps Goals
France 1952 5 2
1953 6 3
1954 6 4
1955 6 4
1956 1 0
1957 0 0
1958 7 4
1959 4 0
1960 3 1
1961 3 0
1962 4 0
Total 45 18
Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kopa goal.
List of international goals scored by Raymond Kopa[6]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 November 1952 Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France   Northern Ireland 3–1 Friendly
2
3 14 May 1953 Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France   Wales 6–1 Friendly
4
5 20 September 1953 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg   Luxembourg 6–1 1954 FIFA World Cup Q.
6 30 May 1954 Stade Heysel, Brussels, Belgium   Belgium 3–3 Friendly
7 19 June 1954 Charmilles Stadium, Geneva, Switzerland   Mexico 3–2 1954 FIFA World Cup
8 11 November 1954 Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France   Belgium 2–2 Friendly
9
10 17 March 1955 Estadio Chamartín, Madrid, Spain   Spain 21 Friendly
11 15 May 1955 Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France   England 1–0 Friendly
12 9 October 1955 St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland   Switzerland 2–1 Friendly
13 23 October 1955 Dinamo Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union   Soviet Union 2–2 Friendly
14 8 June 1958 Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden   Paraguay 7–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
15 15 June 1958 Eyravallen, Örebro, Sweden   Scotland 2–1 1958 FIFA World Cup
16 26 June 1958 Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden   West Germany 6–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
17 1 October 1958 Parc des Princes, Paris, France   Greece 7–1 UEFA EURO 1960
18 27 March 1960 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria   Austria 4–2 UEFA EURO 1960

Honours

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Reims

Real Madrid

France

Individual

Orders

Notes

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  1. ↑ Shared with Duncan Edwards

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Raymond Kopa". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  2. ↑ Braun, Didier. "L'Équipe de France de football, c'est l'histoire en raccourci d'un siècle d'immigration" (PDF). L'Équipe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
  3. ↑ Hanot, Gabriel. "Palmarès Ballon d'Or – 1958 – Raymond Kopa". www.francefootball.fr. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  4. ↑ Bouchez, Yann (3 March 2017). "Raymond Kopa, figure du football français, est mort". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Raymond Kopa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  6. ↑ "Raymond Kopa – national football team player".
  7. ↑ "Stade de Reims 3–0 Milan". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "On this day, Real Madrid lifted club's second Latin Cup". RealMadrid.com. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "Real Madrid 1–0 Benfica". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "France – Footballer of the Year".
  11. ↑ "Matches of FIFA XI".
  12. ↑ "ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES" Retrieved on 26 November 2015
  13. ↑ World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time Retrieved on 28 November 2015
  14. ↑ "Legends". Golden Foot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Gaillard, William (4 February 2011). "Goals, not coal, for Kopa". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  16. ↑ "UEFA President's Award". UEFA.com. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Décret du 6 avril 2007 portant promotion et nomination" [Decree of 6 April 2007 on promotion and appointment]. Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 2007 (84): 6583. 8 April 2007. PREX0710142D. Retrieved 5 June 2019.

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